From: jimruttshow8596
The “user illusion” is a central concept explored by Danish science writer Tor Nørretranders in his book, The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size [00:41:01]. The book, originally written in Danish in 1991 and translated into English in the late 1990s [00:01:40], proposes that our subjective experience of the world, or consciousness, is not a direct reflection of reality but rather a simplified, functional “myth” designed for survival [00:10:51].
Origin of the Term: Software Analogy
The term “user illusion” derives from the field of software development, particularly the contrast between early IBM personal computers and Apple computers with their graphical user interfaces (GUI) around the early 1980s [00:08:18].
Early personal computers presented information in an “engineering style,” listing program contents and processes without attempting to assist the user’s impression of what they were doing [00:08:34]. In contrast, the “small talk paradigm” adopted by Apple from Xerox PARC, spearheaded by Alan Kay, aimed to give the user an “illusion of manipulating objects” [00:08:53]. This involved metaphors like desktop, folders, and files, which are not physically present in the computer but provide a familiar way for users to interact with data [00:09:12]. This “user illusion” helps the user by creating a relevant myth, rather than a precise representation of the computer’s internal workings [00:10:10].
Consciousness as a Clever Hack
Nørretranders extends this analogy to the human mind and consciousness. He posits that our mental image and understanding of the world are not attempts to accurately mirror external reality [00:10:32]. Instead, the mind creates a “relevant myth,” an illusion that aids the survival of the organism [00:10:51]. From a Darwinian perspective, evolution prioritizes survival and reproduction, not the accuracy of cognitive models [00:11:41].
Consciousness is described as a “clever hack” or trick that evolution developed to enable high-quality decisions at a relatively low cost [00:12:06]. Despite the brain being energetically expensive (consuming 20% of the body’s energy) [00:12:21], consciousness has been preserved over hundreds of millions of years because it provides a survival advantage [00:12:54]. The human brain’s ability to use symbols and language is seen as a key innovation that propelled consciousness to a new level [00:13:12].
Bandwidth Reduction and Exformation
A key aspect of the user illusion of consciousness is the radical reduction of information bandwidth from perception to conscious awareness [00:14:15].
- The human brain takes in approximately 11 million bits per second from the environment, primarily through vision, but also hearing, smell, and taste [00:16:13].
- However, conscious awareness processes only about 16 bits per second [00:16:42]. This represents a compression factor of about one million, meaning most incoming information is not consciously processed because it is not pertinent [00:16:48].
This process highlights that consciousness is largely about “throwing away” or “forgetting” most of the information we receive [00:17:52]. This idea aligns with the “physics of information,” which states that erasing information is physically costly, unlike merely transferring it [00:20:23].
This concept leads to “exformation,” which is the information thrown away in communication [00:50:41]. For example, a question mark sent by Victor Hugo to his publisher conveyed his worries about his book’s success, and an exclamation mark back conveyed its popularity [00:48:36]. This is efficient communication because a vast amount of context (exformation) is assumed to exist in the minds of both sender and receiver, allowing meaning to be conveyed with very few bits of explicit information [00:50:24].
The “I” and “Me”: Conscious versus Unconscious Mind
Nørretranders distinguishes between the “I” (the conscious awareness) and the “Me” (the person or organism) [00:25:06]. This distinction is crucial for understanding findings like Benjamin Libet’s experiments on delayed conscious awareness [00:25:36].
Libet’s work showed that when a person makes a decision, the brain’s electric potential begins preparing for the action about one second before the action is performed [00:27:26]. The conscious decision to perform the act, however, only occurs about half a second before the action [00:28:21]. This suggests that the “I” (conscious awareness) lags behind the “Me” (the brain’s pre-conscious activity) [00:33:02].
This implies that:
- The “I” does not initiate action; it becomes aware of the decision after the “Me” has already begun the process [00:29:02].
- Many actions, like walking, talking, or dancing, are performed skillfully without conscious awareness, and conscious interference can hinder performance [00:30:26].
- The “I” is akin to a CEO who believes they are in control, while the “Me” (the “staff”) handles the actual operations, often without the CEO’s full knowledge [00:31:19].
Regarding free will, Nørretranders argues that instead of claiming no free will (as some interpretations of Libet’s work do), we should simply shift the locus of free will from the “I” to the “Me” [00:39:46]. The “Me” possesses free will, even if the “I” only becomes consciously aware of decisions after they have been initiated [00:39:53].
Historical Perspective: Julian Jaynes’s Theory
The book also references Julian Jaynes’s theory from The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind [00:55:51]. Jaynes proposed that consciousness (specifically, self-awareness or the “I”) arose relatively recently in human history, around the time of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey [00:56:57]. Before this, humans might have operated more like the “Me,” guided by “voices” (interpreted as gods) rather than an internal space for decision-making [00:57:54]. People functioning this way today might be termed schizophrenic [00:58:31]. While Bronze Age people were certainly conscious (living in their “movie” and processing information) [00:59:29], Jaynes suggests they lacked the self-consciousness (awareness of being aware) that defines the “I” [01:00:08].
Implications for Modern Living
Nørretranders argues that modern society, despite being called an “Information Society,” is increasingly “emptied of information” in its analog environments [01:03:41]. Simplified, controlled environments like cities and suburbs have less information than complex natural systems like wilderness [01:04:24]. This lack of inherent information in our surroundings can lead to unease and a craving for external stimulation, often sought unsatisfactorily through digital means [01:05:34].
The implication is that to live better and find more joy, we should:
- Embrace less control over nature and our living spaces [01:05:53].
- Allow for more “wilderness” and “otherness” [01:06:01].
- Seek out unpredictable experiences and interactions with other human beings and species [01:06:15].
Modern civilization’s attempt to remove all sources of unhappiness has inadvertently reduced the “dimensionality of life” and does not inherently lead to happiness, which must be found by engaging with the unpredictable and uncontrollable [01:06:47].